Chapter 28: Chapter 28Rose tried to remain calm while she waited for her moment to run. Panicking would do nothing but get her captured.

    She was not going back to Graham and certainly not by the hands of Mathias. Rose regretted using herself as a distraction to have him go free with Alexander.

    "Hurry up so we can visit the next market!" Mathias ordered the soldiers.

    He was starting to believe Rose might have died somewhere on the mountain. She couldn’t make it out alive and had already been far from where he had been searching. Someone was hiding her or maybe he had missed her when he searched the mountain.

    "I should have chased her," Mathias whispered, greatly regretting that he had given up on following Rose the night she ran away. Sear?h the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    If not for the bastard foreigner, Mathias would have caught up to her and dragged her back to the brothel.

    "Their camp was on the other side. Would they hold her as a captive?" Mathias wondered.

    It was unlikely that Rose made it out of town already so the one place she might be hiding after making it through the mountain might be inside the soldier’s camp. Unfortunately, only select men from the king’s army could go to the foreigner’s camp.

    Rose moved away from the crates as soon as Mathias turned his back. She walked fast instead of running which would make her look suspicious. All she needed to do was blend into the crowd and then slip away to head to the church.

    "Which way- No!" Rose gasped, hurrying back to a corner as she stumbled upon more soldiers on the other side she ran.

    Shouldn’t the king’s men have better things to do than be searching around for her? They should want to free her from the life she had.

    Rose found it hard not to panic since more soldiers were walking around the market. She watched as they stopped everyone who passed by to question them.

    "Is it his freedom?" Rose wondered.

    There wasn’t anything else she could think of for why Mathias would want to work with Graham to find her. Mathias had hurt her by kicking her and now he was doing so much worse by trying to send her back to that hellhole just so he could be free.

    Rose smiled though she was hurt by this. Mathias had tasted freedom for eight years while she only got one day of it so far. It was cruel of him to want to join in taking away her freedom when she had helped him to achieve his.

    She could not trust anyone. Not even those who she once fought alongside to escape. Eventually, everyone was going to hurt you so you had to take care of yourself.

    Just as Rose was going to move, her mouth was covered and her body pulled away from where the soldiers walked.

    Tears filled her eyes as she believed that she had been caught.

    "My apologies for touching you, Rose."

    Rose tilted her head back to look up after hearing the familiar voice. She was surprised to see blue eyes looking down at her.

    How was Zayne here?

    He wore a coat over his head most likely to hide that he was not from this land. With the king’s men around, Zayne might find himself in trouble if he was found alone.

    Zayne slowly moved his hands from her mouth. "I didn’t want you to scream. The market is filled with them searching for a woman who fits your description. My carriage is close for us to leave," he said, taking the coat from his head as he spoke to cover Rose’s head with it.

    Zayne buttoned up the coat which was too large for her so it could help to hide her.

    ’They’ll see your face," said Rose.

    "I am not the one they are after. I will keep my eyes on the ground until we reach the carriage. Please endure this for a moment I am going to lift you," Zayne informed Rose before he did it.

    Rose was scared and all kinds of warnings were going off in her head from Zayne holding her, but this was far better than to be caught by the soldiers.

    Zayne carried Rose in his arms as he navigated through the tight spaces between shops and stalls to get back to his carriage. Lifting her was faster than holding her hand as he led her.

    Zayne knew there was something wrong when his carriage moved off from where Rose got off and then when his carriage was stopped, he heard the description that fit Rose. She came from the brothel so why were the soldiers looking for her? Did Graham have that much control or was there more to Rose?

    Rose panicked more as she feared that Zayne would be pulled into her problems. He had left her alone for a small moment and already he had to help her again. With Mathias searching for her along with Grant, she could not travel by herself just yet.

    Zayne opened the carriage door and stepped inside with Rose still in his arms. He fell back to the seat on top of Rose as the coachman was quick to move as soon as the door closed. They couldn’t waste any time in the market for someone to look inside the carriage.

    Zayne placed his hand by Rose’s head to help keep his weight off of her until he could move to sit on his side without falling.

    "Zayne, is your offer still there?" Rose asked.

    She didn’t want to bring him trouble caused by her but she had nowhere else to hide until this search for her died down. Rose knew she needed to hide somewhere until it was believed that she died.

    "It is," Zayne answered.

    "I should have accepted it in the first place," Rose said, knowing she looked foolish now that she was back here in the carriage.

    Zayne moved to the other side of the carriage when it became steady for him to move. "It seemed to be a surprise on your end as well that soldiers are searching for you. You couldn’t have known what happened overnight so I won’t think anything of you turning down the offer at first."

    "Be honest with me, Rose. You knew the soldier who tried to follow you that night, didn’t you?"

    Rose nodded her head. "He was once to be sold like me. We tried to run away and it was only two of my friends who made it out. The only reason I could think of anyone working with Graham after how he treated us before he bought us is that their freedom is on the line."

    Rose had witnessed others do horrible things when Graham dangled their freedom before them. Rose could never judge them since it was a tempting offer but what they should know was that Graham never kept his word. Once he bought you, he didn’t intend to let you go alive.

    "Foolish of someone who escaped being sold to come back here," said Zayne.

    "He probably thought no one would recognise him but I did. I told Graham his name to try to save the guard Graham was torturing. The guard died. There isn’t much in the brothel to keep you positive so I held onto a promise I made with the soldier you saw. It was all I had," Rose said, saddened by how the promise ended.

    Rose wiped her eyes as tears fell though she didn’t want to cry. "I can handle them moving on and forgetting the promise. I cannot force them to help me, but it hurts to know he would want to take me back to Graham. Twice getting in the way of my freedom. I have only wanted for myself and my friends to be free."

    "Do not cry over a pathetic fool, Rose. All the people who wronged you will get the punishment they are deserving of."